Solace Day 6 - Mallard

We arrived at the marina a day early. normally we would have cruised on past and spent the night out on the canal but the weather was awful and there was a job needed to be done.

Anglers had lined themselves every few yards across the towpath right opposite the narrow entrance to the marina. Our boat was being blown badly towards them as we attempted the turn. They were yelling! They were refusing to lift their gear for just the few minutes it would have taken while our huge, heavy boat made the turn.

Once we got settled on our pontoon we had lunch and went along to a local garden centre and, after coffee and cake, bought a new hose reel for the boat's water filling system. One of the syndicate needed to take responsibility for it and we knew where we could get one. It took a while to wind it onto the caddy, but it made better sense than buying a complete unit.

Next door to the garden centre is a Staffordshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve. No fabulous kingfishers this time but even the very common female mallard is beautiful and she's flown up onto the fence, specially to pose for the camera. Good girl!